I bring clear well-thought-out leadership based on solid experience and expertise.
I'm also a stylish and distinctive self-shooter, passionate about character-led stories.
I have very substantial experience in both scripted and unscripted storytelling across a wide spectrum of genres -
from authored ob-doc actuality to formatted factual entertainment and drama.

I've worked in the US and New York and was based in Australia for five years.
Previously I directed commercials in London and drama in Hamburg for NDR.

Witty, and very stylish . the most enjoyable thing Ive seen in a long while Robert Thirkell

BBC2 9.50pm Trouble at the Top: Terry & LizHighly regarded, documentary classic about shoe designer Terry de Havillands big comeback: his surprise return to the world of high fashion decades after most people thought he was dead. More...1 x 39mins, Self-shot (and edit produced)

"A touching documentary with much to say about the contentious interface of art and commerce..." The Sunday Times"Bitter-sweet and full of humanity writ small"The Scotsman

2013 BBC3 9pm Barely Legal Drivers Series 2, Episode 1
Two young drivers are secretly watched by their parents and a former traffic cop with the chance to get a car or go back to driving school. I was asked to bring an ob doc feel to the episode.
Renegade Pictures, Exec Harry Lansdown, Comm Ed. Sam Bickley
1 x 60 mins Self-shot (and edit produced) Canon C300

2006 TCLThe MonasteryCritically-acclaimed observational documentary following five non-believers as they spend 40 days and 40 nights in a Benedictine monastery in New Mexico. US version of the BBC2 hit series. More episodes ...

1990 Series Director Magic
Shot in English and set in Hamburg, $6 million dollar mini-series Magic for NDR International told the backstage stories of the cast of a fictional musical, loosely based on the German production of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's 'Cats'. The musical 'show-within-the-show' was shot on one of Germany's largest sound stages and was composed, designed, constructed, choreographed, and staged in parallel with pre-production and the first weeks of location filming. Principle photography on the series was completed in just 75 shooting days with a full 35mm crew. All episodes were directed by Chester Dent. Script by television veteran Paul Wheeler.
Represented by William Morris in London and Los Angeles.NDR International (6 x 52mins, 35mm Arriflex)

Short Film

Writer/DirectorRevolverShort Film with Liam Neeson,
Winner of a dozen awards, including Critics' Week Cannes, Aix, Chicago, Tokyo, Brest, Munich and the Kino award in Melbourne. Shown at more than 40 festivals world-wide, sold in 15 territories. (NFTS, 35mm Panavision)

2007-13 Based in Australia where I directed factual series for ABC1 and SBS including Angels in New York, Vet School and Selling Houses Australia.

2009 AIDC Masterclass - Casting Characters for DocumentaryA talk given at the invitation of the Adelaide International Documentary Conference including video clips from various documentaries I produced and directed. You can see complete episodes and the full-length BBC documentaries here.